“Not exactly.” His voice has more self-assuredness than it did in his voicemail. “You caught me during amoment.”
My brow arches over the slyness of his reply. “Opening an early Christmas present?”
He chuckles a full-hearted laugh. “Something like that.”
My gaze drifts across the master suite to a naked Isabelle sleeping peacefully. Her hair is a tousled mess, and mascara is smeared under her eyes. I’ve left her resting a little longer this morning since I spent most of the night in a jealousy-fueled rage fucking her senseless, wanting to ensure she knows precisely whom her body belongs to.
I tried to rein in my jealousy, to smother the rage burning me from the inside out. My suppression was working after spending nearly an hour dancing with her at the cocktail party, but it returned full pelt when she kissed Colby on the cheek when we were leaving. He brazenly winked at me before returning her gesture. My fist clenched, and my jaw muscle ticked over his foolish lack of judgment.
The only reason he left the party still walking was because Cormack eased my fury by reminding me that Isabelle was wearing my ring. He also assured me he’d speak to Colby on my behalf. Cormack is my closest confidant, and he handled the issues regarding Clara with due diligence, so I trust he will follow through with his pledge for Colby.
Cormack was the reason Clara requested to speak to me last night. Each member of the McGregor family are well known in the press as billionaires, but every penny they have is in Cormack’s name. When his grandfather passed away, he left his entire fortune to Cormack.
Cormack despises the money nearly as much as he despised his father, but for the sake of his younger siblings, he maintains control of the McGregor entity. He allocated an extremely generous living allowance to his siblings, but he also encourages them to find their own place in the world as he did when he left the McGregor residence with nothing but the clothes on his back.
Clara believed Cormack’s withdrawal of funds was solely based on her false allegations against me, but after speaking with Cormack last night, I discovered that wasn’t the sole reason he cut her allowance.
Feet padding down the line interrupts me from my thoughts, while also reminding me I have my phone attached to my ear. I pace out of the master suite to ensure I don’t wake Isabelle.
“Theresa secured bail?”
Ryan took his findings to the judge who presided over Isabelle’s case the day following ourmeetingin my foyer. The judge agreed that Ryan had enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant for Theresa, giving him the pleasure of arresting her the following afternoon. She had been held in custody since then, awaiting her arraignment.
“Yes, but that was expected. Isabelle was charged with murder, and she was given bail, so it set the precedent that the person who falsely accused her of it would also be given bail.” I hear him scrub his hand along his jaw. “We’ve hit a bit of a stonewall.”
“How so?” My tone lowers as anger grips my body.
“The new DA assigned to the case agrees the evidence is compelling enough to convict Theresa, but he's worried the jury might feel compassion for her, considering everything that happened between you two.”
My back molars grind as my grip on the phone tightens, but before I can speak, Ryan continues. “He thinks your refusal to dispute her claims makes you look guilty.”
“Who told you what happened between Theresa and me?” The files on the court proceedings between Theresa and me are sealed, so Ryan wouldn’t be able to access them.
He coughs, clearing the rattle in his deep voice. “Alex.”
Blood teems furiously through my body. “Those files are sealed. He wouldn’t have access to them.”
“He didn’t. He found out via another source.”
I stiffen. Only one other person knows about the incident between Theresa and me, but she’s worked for me for years, so why would she betray me now?
“I have to go,” I advise Ryan, anger echoing in my voice.
“Isaac!”
I press the phone back against my ear. “Yes.”
“Give her the chance to explain. Not everything is black and white.”
Yeah, because there's always a heap of fucking gray no one pays any attention to.
When I disconnect our call, I grip my phone tightly, fighting the urge to send it hurling across the room. The blood streaming through my veins is overheating my body with anger. I'm so worked up, I don’t notice Isabelle sneaking up on me until her arms wrap around my torso, startling me enough, I yank away from her.
When I capture her tempting smell filtering through my nose, I curse under my breath, then spin around to face her. Pain grips my heart from the frightened haze in her alarmed eyes, but before I can soothe it, she rushes for me, stealing any apologies about to seep from my lips by enclosing her mouth over mine.
Her kiss is lush, mind-stealing, and devoted. By the time she pulls away, my earlier anger is a distant memory.
“That’s better.”
